Character above All: Ten Presidents from F.D.R. to George Bush by Robert WilsonReview by: James S. ChaseThe Arkansas Historical Quarterly, Vol. 56, No. 1 (Spring, 1997), pp. 116-118Published by: Arkansas Historical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40031013 .

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1 1 6 ARKANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

The author is clearly sympathetic to his subject, but he neither overlooks nor excuses Custer's many shortcomings. The major problem with the book is the disproportionate attention given to the Civil War years. Concerned that "the loser at Little Big Horn has overshadowed the excellent Civil War general" (p. 357), Wert devotes ten of the book's nineteen chapters to Custer's life and career between 1861 and 1865. That leaves only nine chapters in which to discuss the rest of his life, and of these, only two deal with the years between his birth in December 1839 and the outbreak of the Civil War. Not only does this slight the eleven years that made up the bulk of his military career, but it sheds precious little light on the events of the formative years that shaped Custer's character.

Wert writes of Custer, "If his military career had ended on the ridge near Appomattox Court House, he would be remembered as one of the country's finest horse soldiers, a warrior hero, standing at ease, in a front rank of fellow soldiers" (pp. 14-15). Perhaps. But it is more likely that, had it not been for the disaster at the Little Big Horn, Custer would be little remembered at all. Only in this final tragedy did George Armstrong Custer find the fame and immortality which he had so avidly pursued.

Arkansas Tech University Thomas A. DeBlack

Character above All: Ten Presidents from F.D.R. to George Bush. Edited by Robert Wilson. (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995. Pp. 256. Preface, notes about the authors, index. $23.00.)

In 1992 the Republicans concentrated on attacking the character of Bill Clinton, an approach that was repeated with a vengeance in 1996. This book, a collection of essays on the ten presidents from Franklin Roosevelt through George Bush, aims to raise the level of public understanding of how character bears upon presidential performance. All of the authors are highly regarded historians, journalists, or biographers who have written extensively on their subjects; three also served under their subjects in the White House.

The quality of the essays, inevitably, varies, but the major problem is the failure to establish any common ground as to what constitutes character. Is it miscellaneous traits of personality, a pattern of behavior, personal integrity, or high moral standards? Each is invoked by one or more of the authors. Nor,

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BOOK REVIEWS 117

with some exceptions, is there any systematic attempt to connect character to policies or political success, and only a hint that public virtue and private rectitude may be quite separable. Most do not, moreover, pinpoint the circumstances or other factors responsible for shaping presidential character. There is, in short, insufficient commonality to provide any meaningful comparison based upon character between the chief executives under review, or for judging the impact of character on their decisions, which is a pity, as all of the contributors are deeply knowledgeable as well as gifted writers.

The most original and insightful piece is on Jimmy Carter by one of his speech writers, Hendrik Hertzberg, which critically examines his presidential and post-presidential activities within the framework of his Christian faith. Hertzberg concludes that "he was and is a moral leader more than a political leader" (p. 180), detailing how religion accounts for both his success and failures. Doris Kearns Goodwin writing on FDR and Tom Wicker on Nixon deftly tie their subjects' presidential personas to their vastly different social backgrounds (and in FDR's case, his bout with polio, which added humility and empathy to his sublime self-confidence). Michael Beschloss offers a telling critique of Bush's political failure as due to his inability to adapt his political personality, which was suitable to the 1950s - moderate, non- ideological, non-partisan, motivated by civil idealism - to the strident conservatism of the Sun Belt (although he did try from time to time).

David McCullough and Stephen Ambrose, on Truman and Eisenhower respectively, offer summaries of their excellent, lengthy biographies without significant addition. Robert Dallek's chapter on Lyndon Johnson seems perfunctory and does not attempt to unravel his many character contradictions. James Cannon, an assistant to Gerald Ford, and Peggy Noonan, speech writer to Ronald Reagan, have written apologias on behalf of their chiefs notable for their uncritical praise.

Only Richard Reeves is fully at ease in discussing the impact of character on public policy, but then he wrote a book about it: A Question of Character: ALife of John F. Kennedy (New York: The Free Press, 1991). He concludes that a sterling personal character is not essential to presidential greatness; indeed, it sometimes is its enemy. In making the great decisions on which presidents are ultimately judged, it does not matter whether they have been faithful to their wives or have lied, but "whether they connect with what is unspoken in the hearts of Americans" (p. 104), so that it is the character of the American people, not that of the president, which counts most.

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1 1 8 ARKANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

It was probably unrealistic to think that this book, or the television special presented in conjunction with it, would significantly elevate the public discourse on the character issues raised during the campaign of 1996, but it

certainly did not hurt, whatever its shortcomings. Most, I believe, would agree with Reeves that the current use of the character issue is "a cover for rotten, dirty politics" that is "literally destroying American politics" (p. 92).

University of Arkansas, Fayetteville James S. Chase

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